Shillong Lajong FC will play their first I-League 2024-25 match against Churchill Brothers of Goa on Sunday at the SSA Stadium at First Ground here. Kick-off will be at 7pm.
This is a different venue from the one the All India Football Federation (AIFF) announced in its list of fixtures last month but fans will better enjoy the spectacle at the SSA Stadium where the stands are much closer to the action.
Lajong, under coach Bobby Lyngdoh Nongbet, had finished eighth out of 13 teams in I-League 2023-24 but today the new gaffer Jose Carlos Rodriguez Hevia said that the club is looking for nothing but the best, i.e., the very top.
Rodriguez, who had been with the Reds in 2019-20, rejoined Lajong before the Durand Cup, where SLFC impressed in their run to the semifinals before they lost to eventual champions NorthEast United FC.
“What we’re going to do is to carry on as from the first day I came here. We started in the Durand and the plan is ongoing,” he said at a press conference. “The plan is to win all the matches. We are going to go out each match with the idea of winning. It is possible? Hopefully, yes. It will be complicated? Very complicated. It will be hard? Very hard. But the players are very hungry.”
Asked if he had a specific target about where he would like the team to be in the 12-club league, the Spaniard replied, “The best. Simple like that. To be on the top. We are not mediocre people. We are very ambitious people, very hungry people … The talent is here, the sacrifice is here, the passion is here. So why not expect the best? We will try everyday.”
That should be music to Lajong fans’ ears and now the players have to deliver. In them, Rodriguez expressed confidence.
“I’m happy with all of them. Really surprised by the level of the local players. Obviously, I knew a few of them (from his previous stint at the club). After the Durand Cup performance I had a very good impression of all of them but what I saw in these past two months is very good and makes me very optimistic for this I-League,” he said.
As there was a bit of a gap between the Durand Cup and I-League, the head coach said that he wanted a friendly match every week and there have been 12 in all. “Obviously we couldn’t play against strong teams but we had those at a minimum level and that made us get better every day and to carry on with the preparations properly,” he explained.
Also at the press conference were two club officials – Seibor Sana and Haba Lyngdoh – and two players – Phrangki Buam and Hardy Cliff Nongbri.
The latter exuded confidence, saying, “We’ve been preparing for the last two months. All the players have been working hard and we all have the same intention that we play well and win the I-League.”
